University of Colorado defensive back Parker Orms. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

BOULDER — It will be Senior Day Saturday for Colorado against 23rd-ranked Southern California and it probably won’t hit any player harder than safety Parker Orms.

He’s already warming up. He cried after Colorado’s first Pac-12 win of the year Saturday against California. And Orms didn’t even play.

“I go right up to him after the game,” MacIntyre said at his weekly media luncheon Tuesday. “I shake (Cal coach) Sonny’s (Dykes) hand and I see Parker kind of looking up in the stands. There are tears in his eyes. He’s just so happy that we won. I said, ‘You need to get well so you can play next week.'”

Orms missed the game with a shoulder stinger. He practiced Tuesday but didn’t hit anyone.

“Hopefully, he’s going to be well enough to play this week,” MacIntyre said. “I think he will be.”

Parker, the star who led Wheat Ridge High to the 2008 state title, will be one of 15 seniors honored before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

“His heroics get bigger nad bigger,” MacIntyre joked. “I always tease him. I say, ‘I heard there was nobody on the field when you won the state championship game. It was just you by yourself.'”

Despite missing the Cal game, he’s still third on the team in tackles with 61. However, he tore his ACL in the 2010 opener, had leg injuries in 2011 and a concussion in 2012. He has had just one pass breakup this year.

“I really would’ve loved to have seen him play without his knee bummed up because he’s really tough and quick now,” MacIntyre said. “I can’t imagine how much better he’d be if his knee wasn’t hurt. He would make a lot more plays than he’s been able to make because he literally drags his knee around all week getting ready to play.”

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Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.